Arthur I. Cyr: Venezuela crisis has strategic significance

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Feb 19, 2019 at 11:44 AMFeb 19, 2019 at 11:45 AM

Venezuela’s ongoing economic disaster has become a major political crisis. This provides opportunities for the United States and other nations in the Americas, and beyond. The deterioration of the nation’s economy has been unfolding steadily now for years.

This is the principal legacy of deceased left-wing President Hugo Chávez. Oil is a principal national resource, but gross mismanagement and underinvestment have drastically cut production.

The regime of successor Nicolás Maduro, increasingly desperate politically, has engaged in intimidation and corruption as he tries to cling to power. In early January, he was sworn in for a second six-year term in office following a controversial election.

On Jan. 23, Juan Guaidó, leader of the legislature, declared himself acting president and demanded that Maduro resign. Confrontation has continued since.

The Trump administration has joined international pressure for Maduro to go. The U.S. is shipping food and medical supplies to help alleviate the human suffering in Venezuela. An important story here is the important leadership role of Colombia, which borders Venezuela and is initial destination of many supplies.

The FARC is the acronym for a powerful rebel army, known in English as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The powerful movement embraced communism.

After success in 1959 of the revolution led by Fidel Castro, Cuba became a communist satellite and spearheaded subversion in Latin America. The regime survived the collapse of the Soviet Union, a close ally and sponsor, but faces serious structural economic problems.

President Barack Obama’s 2016 visit to Cuba was the first by a U.S. chief executive since President Calvin Coolidge in 1928. However, Cuba remains a brutal and repressive dictatorship. Over the years, Venezuela received important aid from the government of Cuba, along with China and Russia.

Early in this century, the FARC seemed to be gaining momentum. The evolving conflict resembled the first years of the United States’ long and costly military involvement in Vietnam. More and more civilian and uniformed American advisers were being sent, along with a steadily growing array of helicopters, arms and ammunition, and other matériel.

The administration of President George W. Bush significantly expanded aid which began in the Clinton administration, and also tried to minimize media attention. This effort was eerily reminiscent of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, which endeavored before 1965 to deflect Vietnam from the news even as U.S. involvement increased.

The long war and unrest made Colombia inviting for powerful international criminals. In November 2011, Viktor Bout, the “Merchant of Death,” was convicted and imprisoned. A Soviet army veteran, he became enormously rich dealing weapons and drugs on a global scale.

Colombia was a major profit center for him. Drug Enforcement Administration agents posing as Colombia rebels arrested him. Also in 2011, the U.S. Congress ratified trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.

Then, violence in Colombia began to decline, in great contrast to the evolution of the war in Southeast Asia. After years of war, the FARC agreed to disband. In late 2016, Colombia ratified the peace agreement. That is important and a direct reflection of substantial, real strategic change in Latin America.

Stable democracy has not suddenly emerged. Maduro clings to power. Colombia President Iván Duque Márquez is unpopular and party politics in the nation is in turmoil.

However, in Colombia, Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America, the military has remained in their barracks and refrained from armed coups, a traditional political remedy. That is the real news.

Arthur I. Cyr is Clausen Distinguished Professor at Carthage College and author of “After the Cold War” (NYU Press and Macmillan). Contact him at acyr@carthage.edu.

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